APC’s Potentially Confusing Bundle
UPS market leader APC has a new offer available for it’s customers. I discuss what may make this deal confusing from APC’s perspective. And what to watch for when buying a UPS.
Ultimate Build 2019 – pfSense
Sometimes it is fun to take a short break from the (somewhat) sensible world we live in and do something that is truly crazy and having a bit of fun the process. Today I really turned it up a few notches and decided to design, price out, and analyse a truly insane pfSense firewall build!
Newly Discovered Vulnerability in Fax Machines
Fax machines still exist! It is important to keep these devices updated. A new vulnerability has the ability to compromise computers on the entire network!
Using Syslog
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! This week I’ve been hearing quite a bit about Syslog and how much of a help it is when you’ve got multiple servers that need to be constantly monitored. Enter the long standing solution, syslog. Syslog has been around forever and like a lot of network administrators when I first learned about Syslog I didn’t have a need for it. I had so few computers back then that I didn’t see the need. Like so many I…
Ethical Hacking and the US Power Grid
This morning I did what many early-20-year-old-men do: I watched YouTube videos on my phone before getting out of bed this morning. However, unlike many early-20-year-old-men I watch a lot of educational programming as well (although I have been known to watch the occasional stupid video from time to time). This morning I noticed a video that caught my eye: Watch hackers break into the US power grid at first I was skeptical, I figured that it couldn’t possibly be…
ntopng On pfSense
Today I would like to introduce you all to a very useful package that you can install on pfSense: ntopng. Formally known as ntop, ntopng allows you to Analyze the different traffic on each interface on your pfSense box. This can be extremely valuable from a security perspective because not only can you see what is happening on your network. You can quite easily get an idea of what exactly your systems are doing. As well as get a sense…
pfSense for Learning Computer Networking & Cybersecurity
Hello everyone! This week I want to continue talking about pfSense and why I think it is one of the best pieces of software especially for anyone who is looking into (or is already in) a career network administration or cybersecurity. I recently started taking a cybersecurity class and as part of our first lesson we reviewed the basics of how computer networks work and that got me thinking about pfSense and the journey that I’ve taken on my…
Is My E2500 Broken?
Happy Friday Everyone! As everyone who has ever met me probably knows I like to learn about computers and have the tendency to get excited about stuff no one else cares about. Today I opened the web interface on my Linksys e2500 router which runs the DD-WRT firmware. And saw that the system load was a perfect 0.00, 0.00, 0.00 (no CPU load over the past 1, 5, and 15 minutes respectively). The web interface also told me that the…
What’s With RGB Lighting In Everything?
Technology is always evolving. Being in IT I know and expect this. When I first got into computers I focused mainly on the hardware side of things. I always wanted to hear about the latest and greatest CPU, motherboard, or graphics card. And I would dream about one day my “dream PC” with all the best hardware in it. I often reasoned that a system needed far better hardware then what it needed. and was quick to want to upgrade…
Warning: Corrosion Inside the Original Xbox!
Hello everyone! For the past couple of days I’ve been playing one of my favorite games from my childhood. Burnout Revenge on the original Xbox will always hold a special place in my heart. I was feeling rather nostalgic and I decided to dig the game out and play it. Excited, I flipped the rocker switch to the “on” position on the power strip behind my TV. (some devices can take as much as 90% of their total power consumption…
How Many of You Have Seen This (Resetting Power-on Hours Count)?
I ask you guys how many times have you seen this (look closely at the Lifetime hours count)? Anyone know what the problem is? Make a guess and click “Continue Reading” to find out if your correct.
ECC RAM Not Working in my (Surprisingly) ECC-capable Motherboard?
Hello everyone, A couple of days ago I treated myself to a new stick of RAM for my PFsense box. I was going from 4 GB non-ECC memory to a single stick 16GB ECC stick. Normally wouldn’t bother going with ECC but the ECC stick was actually cheaper then the comparable non-ECC stick. The RAM was branded HP (although the picture shows that it’s Lenovo banded). However I figured RAM is RAM and assumed this wouldn’t be an issue. When…
Installing a New SAS HBA in my ZFS File Server
Awhile back I had gotten my hands on a brand-new SAS adapter which I put in my ZFS file server. My file server runs Debian Jessie and uses the ZFS file system thanks to the ZFS on Linux (ZOL) project. I’ve been watching alot of Mark Furneaux’s videos (who’s channel should really get more attention then what it currently is) and his video “Failure of a Crappy SATA HBA in My File Server” inspired me to treat my file server…